Bellinger, Hosmer break the seal as Cubs fall short

CINCINNATI -- Following the frigid conditions over the opening weekend at Wrigley Field, the Cubs found the conditions at Great American Ball Park on Monday more welcoming for the hitters. That was evident during pregame batting practice.

"The ball in BP was flying a lot," Cubs first baseman Eric Hosmer said.

Led by Cody Bellinger's first home run in a Cubs uniform, the North Siders' lineup did its part in what devolved into a 7-6 loss to the Reds. Twice, lefty Drew Smyly was unable to hold a lead handed to him by the offense, sending Chicago to its third straight defeat.

"Our offense scored a lot of runs -- plenty to win the game," Smyly said. "I just let us down."

Here were three key components in the Cubs' latest game.

1. Bellinger, Hosmer deliver
Collecting that first hit of a season can be an important moment mentally for a hitter. That is especially the case for a player who is suiting up for a new organization and wants to make a strong first impression for his teammates and fans.

"You want to get that first [hit in front of the home fans] out of the way," manager David Ross said. "You press a little bit, which turns into a little bit of adrenaline and you're jumpy at the pitcher. And things can kind of break down."

Bellinger and Hosmer -- added as free agents over the winter -- went a combined 0-for-18 during the Cubs' first three games of the season.

Bellinger snapped out of his cold spell with a towering three-run shot in the first inning on Monday. Hosmer singled in the first, added a go-ahead two-run double in the fifth and tried to spark a late rally with a two-out single in the ninth.

"The first one's always nice to get out of the way," Hosmer said. "It's like a sense of relief. It feels good to get that first one out of the way, add on to it, but it just feels good to contribute to the offense."

2. Wisdom's bunt gone awry
With the Reds clinging to a 7-6 advantage in the seventh, the Cubs had an opportunity to swing the moment back in their direction. Bellinger led off with a walk and Trey Mancini reached on catcher's interference, setting up a key at-bat for Patrick Wisdom.

Wisdom is one of the Cubs' best sluggers -- he belted a pair of homers on Sunday -- but Ross wanted the third baseman to bunt to move the runners up a base against Reds righty Fernando Cruz. The manager had other options on the bench, but felt Wisdom could get the job done.

"In my mind, there's a lot of good there if we get that bunt down," Ross said.

Wisdom worked the count to 3-1, squared to bunt again and popped the pitch up to Cruz for an easy out. The rally was over three batters later with no runs pushed across.

"I had some debate in my mind whether to let him swing 3-1," Ross said. "Didn't, and we get a bad result. But he's a really good bunter, a really good player. I thought the matchup favored us getting that guy over.”

Wisdom was hit on the left wrist by a pitch in his previous at-bat in the fifth inning -- he said X-rays on his hand came back clean after the game -- but that did not play into the decision to have him bunt.

"It was tender for just swinging, for sure," Wisdom said. "I think I would've bunted regardless, just knowing the situation."

3. Thompson's multi-inning outing
The frustrating part for Smyly in his season debut was the fact that he was consistently generating soft contact with his fastball. The exception was his final pitch in the fifth, which Reds first baseman Jason Vosler sent out to left for a game-changing three-run homer.

"It's not the way you want to start the year,” Smyly said.

When Smyly bowed out after 4 2/3 innings, Ross turned things over to righty Keegan Thompson, who had a 1.47 ERA in 36 2/3 relief innings (12 games) last year. This spring, the Cubs were conservative with his workload as they monitored a dip in his fastball velocity (down to 90-91 mph at points).

If there were questions about whether Thompson could revive his role as a multi-inning relief weapon, he answered them in Cincinnati. After his velocity touched 95 mph on Opening Day, Thompson was back in the 92-93 mph range over 3 1/3 scoreless innings on Monday.

"Keegan always comes in and just locks it down," Smyly said.